Cazenovia College Welcomes New Employees to Campus

Event Date(s):

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 (All day)

Cazenovia College welcomed twelve new employees to campus between early July and mid-September. Joining the Cazenovia family for the new semester is Susan Bock, Christina Bobesky, Grace Eggers, Katherine George, Amanda Klish '04, Louis Marcoccia, Kyle McMahon '17, Eric Persons, Lily Soltani-Amadi, Katelin Tressler, Marie Veschusio '17, and Samantha Wessing. To become familiar with some of the new members of the Cazenovia College family, below are descriptions not only of their positions, but also about their lives outside of campus.

Susan Bock is Cazenovia College's web content manager in the Office of Communications and Marketing. Bock's job is to "keep the information on Cazenovia.edu up-to-date." She monitors the website, takes requests to create new content and refreshes old content. Prior to Caz, Bock worked at Time Warner Cable running the websites for the local news and sports channels. She left TWC to pursue other interests including spending more time with her children and earning a master's degree in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation. Bock says the position here at the college gives her the chance to work in her field and within her community. Off campus, Bock enjoys spending time with family, including her two dogs and two Angora rabbits.

Christina Bobesky, a graduate from Syracuse University, is the newest addition to the Human Services Department as an assistant professor. In this position, Bobesky teaches classes such as gerontology and counseling theories. Prior to joining the Cazenovia College faculty, Bobesky had experience teaching at the college level and interned within the foster care system. She has worked with immigrant youth since 2002 – as the head counselor at the CYM: Ukrainian American Youth Association – organizing recreational and social programs. Bobesky also works with boys and girls ages 4-18 coordinating events in the community. Bobesky choreographs dances and even performs alongside the children. She ensures that the costumes are accurate to the region of Ukraine, which the dance represents. Another fun fact, Bobesky is a third-generation Ukrainian dancer, and her niece is now the fourth generation to participate!

Grace Eggers is the newest addition to the Office of Student Life staff as an area coordinator. Before coming to Caz, Eggers held a non-live-in residence life position at Binghamton University while completing her master's degree. Now, she oversees Hubbard, Park, and Village Housing, Grace makes sure that the students are happy and the resident advisors have everything they need. She encourages students to stop in for a visit, talk about any concerns, or even just for a piece of candy at her office in Chapman Hall. She also explained that she is probably the biggest fan of pandas. You may even see her walking around the building in her panda onesie.

Amanda Klish '04 is the second shift cleaner for Campus Services. Her roles include making sure the facilities on and off-campus are squeaky clean, getting stains out of carpets, and wiping down surfaces that have gotten grimy from fingerprints. Before returning to Caz, Klish worked at a monastery attending to the facilities there. "I'm most excited about breaking into the field of #toiletart," Klish said which basically means taking beautiful pictures of a less than pleasing bathroom furnishing. You can find some of her toilet art, as well as her other work on her Instagram page. Something else that you may not know, is that Klish is a synesthete "which basically means I can taste sound," Klish explained.

Louis Marcoccia joins the faculty at Caz as the professor holding the Jill Hebl St. Clair '62 Endowed Chair for Accounting and Finance. His job includes teaching courses in accounting and finance, and being involved "in developing a finance program for the college." By developing this program, Cazenovia College will be able to offer a major and minor in finance, making the college more attractive to incoming freshmen with interests in a financial career. Previously, Marcoccia held positions at the accounting firm of Price Waterhouse, as well as Syracuse University from which he retired as the Executive President and Chief Financial Officer. Marcoccia received his doctorate in education from the University of Pennsylvania.

Kyle McMahon '17 is Cazenovia College's newest campus safety officer. After attending the college, Kyle looks forward to giving back to the school that gave him so much. When asked what brought him back to Caz, his answer was "being a student here, I knew how special the campus environment was." His position includes ensuring the safety of students on campus from patrolling to enforcing policy. What you may not know about Kyle is that he is a twin.

Eric Persons is the vice president for Institutional Advancement at Cazenovia College. Prior to coming to Caz, Persons was the associate vice president for government and community relations at Syracuse University, where he also served as the director of community engagement and economic development, and director of administration and engagement in the Division of Institutional Advancement. Here at Caz, Persons oversees all college fundraising activities with outreach to alumni and individual donors, foundations, corporations, and government agencies. He also oversee the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations and the Office of Communications and Marketing.

Katelin Tressler joined the Cazenovia College family as an academic coach/counselor for Project REACH. Project REACH is a federally funded grant program that helps eligible students get specialized assistance and counseling. Tressler works one-on-one with students both academically and socially. As students transition into college, that guidance is immensely important. Before Caz, Tressler worked in higher education for a few years in undergraduate admissions. Tressler is in the process of completing her master's degree in higher education administration, student advising, and counseling from Stonybrook University. A fun fact about Tressler is that she is a huge fan of pumpkin spice. "I may be the biggest pumpkin spice fan on the planet. Seriously, I live for this time of year!" she explained.

Marie Veschusio '17 is one of the new assistant directors of admissions and financial aid counselors at Cazenovia College. Her job at Caz is to aid incoming students in determining if the school is a right fit for them, as well as with the enrollment process. Veschusio is often on the road speaking at high school and college fairs in order to recruit new students. Prior to starting this position, Veschusio was an involved Caz student, often giving tours on campus. She looks forward to seeing what her advisees do in the future. In her spare time, Veschusio loves baking and cooking, and watching cooking shows with her family.

Written by Erin Hankins, Office of Communication and Marketing intern, English sophomore